Pages

Sunita Tomar-India’s Anti-Tobacco campaign dies

Sunita Tomar, poster girl of India’s Anti-Tobacco campaign dies

Sunita Tomar Sunita Tomar, poster girl of India’s anti-tobacco campaign
passed away at her hometown in Bhind district of Madhya Pradesh. She was
28 and was diagnosed with oral cancer. She had appeared in government’s
30-second video titled ‘Sunita’ which had highlighted the devastating
effect of smokeless tobacco. The video had shown her personal testimony
before and after an operation to remove the cancerous growth and a part
of her mouth. For this video Sunita had teamed with Voice of Tobacco
Victims (VoTV) in order to create awareness about the tobacco-cancer. It
is estimated that tobacco causes 40% of the cancer in India. Around 10
lakh new cancer cases are reported every year. In fact, India has the
highest incidence of oral cancer in the world, prompting its link to the
habit of chewing tobacco among Indians. While, 60% of oral cancer
patients in India die within a year or two of their diagnosis because of
their late treatment.